This has definitely been a year for the record books when it comes to the snow department here in the U.P. Paul Rose took a Christmas eve hike around Fayette State Park, in the Garden area and sent us these two photos to record his trek. His first shot almost looks like a black and white photo with the streaks of red sun going down providing the only color behind the buildings that make up Fayette State Park. In Paul's second shot, the setting sun is reflecting off the Great Fayette Cliff...hard to believe it was taken at the end of December with no snow on the ground and open water, too.
By Uncle Chuck @ Little Betsy (Unclechuck) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 06:47 am:

Really lovely pictures! The UP has so much to offer...never ceases to amaze me.
By Janet Boatman (Janetnwohio) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 07:57 am:

Beautiful pictures!!!! We have so many pictures like that of our vacations in the UP we love the the freighter pictures. Hope to get back again this summer we have been coming to the UP for 25 years we tried going to another place in MI last year and it is not the same. Enjoy your day.
By JH (Thumbgardener) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 08:15 am:

Glorious! What a lucky find at the end of the year. I know you're used to a lot of white stuff, but these pictures are great too.
By Richard L. Barclay (Notroll) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 08:59 am:

David, Fayette is on the west side of the Garden Peninsula where it sticks into Lake Michigan from the UP east of Escanaba. It is an old smelting community where iron ore was brought by rail to Escanaba and then by sailing ship to Fayette and smelted using the local hardwood for fuel before sending it on to the mills nearer limestone and coal. If I remember right it was the brainchild of a steel company accountant before the process of making coke for the blast furnaces. Anybody else with more accurate info?
By Cindy Pihlaja Russell (Gone2long) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 09:17 am:

Fayette was named for Fayette Brown, Company Agent for the Jackson Iron Company who chose the site because of it's proximity to all the natural resources needed for iron ore smelting. The site operated from 1867 to 1891 and during this time was one of the UP's most productive iron snmelting operations, producing almost 230,000 tons of iron. The grounds around Fayette included around 500 residents, two blast furnaces, several charcoal kilns, and a dock for shipment of the finished pig iron. Local hardwoods were used to fuel the blast furnaces and limestone quarried from the local bluffs was used to purify the iron ore. By 1891, when charcoal fuels were being replaced by more "modern" fuels (coke for one), Jackson Iron closed the Fayette smelter for good.
By Gonna be a Yooper (Joanie) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 09:47 am:

They've been cross country skiing on the trails at Tech. They are also downhill skiing at Ripley. You can see both of these on Tech's web cams.

My cousin in Calumet, which usually has more snow than Houghton/Hancock, said there are only about two inches there. Don't know how the Swedetown trails are doing.
By Lorelei (Lorelei) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 11:42 am:

Tom, The snow is hard but there is cover in the southern portion of Houghton County. Not much but there is cover. I haven't attempted to snowshoe yet due to the risk of damaging them. I have never waited so long to get out on my shoes.
By Charles In Esky (Charlesinesky) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 01:28 pm:

In the 1920s Fayette was a camp. My late father-in-law from Esky spent time there and loved it. By the 1950s he was back from his years in the Navy during WWII and loved to take his stinkboat over there from Esky. Mead Paper owned the site now. Would Mead want to log off the site? Not specially, it seems, and my father-in-law , a lawyer, helped work out a deal whereby Mead exchanged the site with the State for lands Mead wanted more elsewhere. It was after that that the State began to turn Fayette into amarvelous historical park like Fort Wilkins.
By Charles In Esky (Charlesinesky) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 01:47 pm:

Oh, and here is a postscript: if you travel down the Garden Peninsula to Fayette by road from U.S. 2, you find it is a looong way down there. So you want to stop in the little village of Garden on the way down to quiet the kids with ice cream. While they are eating their cones, check out the gift shop. Garden has the most amazing bunch of jewelers, sculptors in wood, potters, and other assorted artists and craftsmen! And they all have stuff in that shop. It is really a neat place to check out in that area.
By Erica - Florida Keys (Erica) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 01:49 pm:

Charles in Esky,thank goodness for people like your late father-in-law who have helped preserve so much of the UP for future generations to enjoy!
By Paul A Rose (Whitewaves) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 02:25 pm:

Charles...Thanks for the comments on Garden and the Gallery! Its an amazing little Gallery that does quiet well in the summer months! The talent in the Gallery is amazing and I encourage those traveling down the Peninsula road to Fayette.....to please stop in. The Gallery will open at the end of May and we always have a great turn out for the opening. The Gallery always has a great assortment of foods on hand for the event! I have never not been able to find someting new to photograph in the park........one thing I know is that Ghosts of Fayette do exist........just visit the place on a full moon...........Thanks again Charles in Esky......
By Bob Gilreath (Bobg) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 02:44 pm:

Wow that top shot could be from a Battlefield in WWII.

very cool

We kayaked in the area 2 summers ago.

some more cool shots from there can be found in this album at the end.

oh wow them pics are awesome. i love the colors in teh top one, it almost looks like them red streaks were stuck in there afterwards. as for the second, i love the beautiful secenery. i've never been to fayette park...much less have any clue where it is lol but anyways these are some shots that are like 1 in a million.
By Mike (Upboundeh) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 05:28 pm:

Janet said it best there is nothing like the UP! I'll add to that, we visited the UP in June instead of late August early Sep this year before we moved to OH. Now I'am having UP withdraws. Great Pics !!
By Danielle Adams (Badkid) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 06:09 pm:

poor mike, take a trip on up, always welcome in yooperville! :)
By Therese (Therese) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 08:53 pm:

Capt Paul: "... for the Jackson Iron Company who chose the site because of it's proximity to all the natural resources..." In this use the word *it's* should be *its*. The first spelling is a contraction for 'it is'; the second is the possessive. But however you spell it, I always appreciate your instruction on the history and geology of the UP. Thanks!
By Dr. Nat (Drnat) on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 - 10:00 pm:

Whew! I'm glad to see that I am not the only one who is picky about spelling and grammar.
By Deb S. (Usedtobeayooper) on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 08:11 am:

Dr. Nat, Send them my way. I enjoy nothing better than proofreading. Like Cindy, I'm picky about spelling and grammar. Not to the point where I'm going to pick you apart if you spell something wrong. That's rude. It just is one of my pet peeves, and we all have them.
By John C. Heikkila (Heikki) on Thursday, December 28, 2006 - 09:21 am:

I'm flabbergasted! It was only last week my younger sis corrected me on the incorrect use of *it's*. I've been using *it's* incorrectly for at least a half century.....and also *your's*, *her's*, etc. Just seemed logical to punctuate a personal pronoun. LOL. But I salvaged my pride by sending her this from a dictionary:

PRONOUN: It's [non-standard] Its; this spelling is widely regarded as incorrect, though quite common in informal/unchecked writing.

I also added a pinch of convoluted reasoning: Since it is only widely regarded as incorrect, then it must be narrowly accepted as correct because of it's common usage. (How's that, Capt. Paul?)